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November 2, 2009

I'm not sure if the announcement that I am going to post every day this month counts as a post for the day. I'll play it safe and post again. Although, it is 11:50pm, and this probably won't even show up on your dashboards or in your inboxes for a few hours. Just know, in my world, it is still Monday.

I consider myself a very tolerant person. I always keep in mind that everyone is different, and we are all entitled to our own opinions. Not a single person is 100% correct all of the time, myself included. It seems like the only people that I have trouble being tolerant of are those that are not tolerant of others themselves.

I was raised by two wonderful people. We went to a Methodist church fairly often, and had many different types of friends and family members that we loved equally. I never knew hate, I never knew intolerance, I never knew racism, or homophobia. Now, I'm not saying I was sheltered in a world of hippies. I just grew up knowing how to love and accept everyone. I am forever grateful to my parents and to others in my life who raised me to be the open-minded person that I am. It is my goal to raise my kids to have the same open-minded attitude that I, and their father, do.

With that said, I find myself so intolerant of those who judge people that they deem "less Christian", those who look down upon others who they do not think are as good as they are, those who are condescending to people who do not share their views. I find it hard to hear their words and read their thoughts. I'm an open-minded person finding my mind closed to people like that.

While I dislike that I have a short fuse for close-minded people, simply because it counteracts my open-minded nature, I feel strongly that it is important that we surround ourselves with people and things that bring us good energy. In my opinion, if someone causes you to feel upset or to question yourself, then that person does not belong in your life. I go with my instincts on who I surround myself with, and it serves me well.

How much do you tolerate from others? Do you allow those who tend to bring you down remain in your life?

That's one of the MAJOR reasons we moved from WV. Our town was10 years behind the times on everything, and very very racist. That may be a stupid reason to leave, but I did not want my kids growing up with that same belief system that many of the old timers there had passed on. And yes it was also on the Bible belt, big time. I believe in God 100%, but I also believe I'm acceptance, tolerance, or whatever else you need to do to get alog with others. I don't judge how people live, or I try very hard not to. Don't let anyone bring you down, if they're tying to. We love ya :)

I have recently realized just how important it is to disconnect yourself from others who bring you (and others) down. I am very open-minded myself and am working on being less judgemental because it is not my place to judge. I am a work in progress and am trying to better myself everyday. It's not easy, but it will be worth it!!!

Great post Steph! I totally agree with you. I feel the same way on an every day basis. I just take myself out of the picture and try to remember we are all entitled to our on opinion no matter how much I hate theirs, at that moment. :)

yeah i agree with you. i hate people who think they are better than everyone else and they think they're views are right and everyone else's is wrong. But then again, i beilve that religion should not have anytihng to do with government (ex: in pledge of alleigance, etc.), and that people sohuldn't force their religion on anyone else (ex: denying gays basic rights becuase of their religion).

I strongly belive in those views, and i think they are right and i dislike close-minded people and overly religious people who completley disagree with those views. So i think that those views are right and they're views are wrong. which goes back to my 2nd sentance in this post, "i hate people who think they are better than everyone else and they think they're views are right and everyone else's is wrong."

so basically i hate myself for being open-minded and belief in treating people fairly, which in the same time is being close-minded for completley disagreeing with the other people's veiws.

And girl, I couldn't agree with you more. I, too, was raised Methodist. My entire family, is in fact, either Methodist or Baptist. And as you know, I'm now a practicing Pagan. Believe me, it's been really difficult at times because people just don't understand our beliefs. I've been asked if I practice black magick, or put spells on people...I've even been asked if I worship the devil! And that's just silly...the devil is a Christian belief. It is not part of our belief system.

So yea, I know first hand what it's like to be desciminated against because my religious views aren't mainstream.

My problem with close-minded people is this...why does it even matter? Why do they care so much about what OTHERS are doing? I'm not hurting anybody by practicing paganism. My friend, Brian, who is homesexual...he isn't hurting anybody by falling in love with men either. Skin color? It doesn't matter. We're all the same color on the inside. If skin color is so important, why don't we discriminate against caucasian folks who try and get dark tans? I mean, really? They're actually trying to change their appearance. Oooh, the shame!

Honestly, I find it incredibly frustrating and annoying. I'm like you...my attitude is, "Whatever floats your boat." We have this life and we need to make it happy and comfortable for ourselves.